I'm Sioux Roslawski and this is my blog about writing, dogs, grown-up children, menopause, the joy of a marvelous book, classroom teaching in general, and specifically, the teaching of writing. You can email me at sroslawski(at)yahoo(dot)com.

The Pyrenees---Southern France

Thursday, February 2, 2012

WWWP Highlights

Last night was our twice-monthly writing critique night. One of our group was missing in action, so it was a bit more sedate than usual, but extremely productive, as always.

Here are some of the highlights:

ClickClickClickClickClickClick. The sound of pills shaking against the inside of a plastic pill bottle. Three of us sat up on our back haunches and begged, unblinking, expectant and transfixed. (A member of our group just got off painkillers, and we were sure she was shaking one out for each of us.)

Oh, those were toothpicks being shaken out, for the appetizers? Awww. Oh, well.

"Change the focus of the piece to your children, take out the 'essay' parts, and this would make a wonderful story." Too often we look at a piece and box it in, thinking it would not be suitable for a particular publication/contest. Repurpose it. Retool it. Tweak it, then send it off.

The power of self-fulfilling prophecy. Two years ago, my students each hung up their dream in our classroom. There were clouds hanging all over the place, swinging on fishing line. My dream was up there, too: "I dream of being a published writer." That was in September. In December of that same year, High Hill Press accepted my picture book manuscript. Coincidence? I think not.

This year, all five of the WWWP's are going to be in the Chicken Soup for the Soul Parenthood anthology. We're going to do book signings (they will be the most raucous book signings ever!) and we're going to be fierce. Have any of us been accepted yet? No. But it will happen...

Have any of you had first-hand experience with a self-fullfilling prophecy? I'd love to hear about them...

Ha! Good one, Sioux! You had me there...for a minute...about all of you having stories in the SAME BOOK. That really would be awesome, wouldn't it?? If that happens, I think you should keep your book signings in taverns, corner bars, etc. Much better that way! :D

I read a book, over 10 years ago, titled Write It Down Make It Happen. In a notebook, that I usually used for scrap paper I wrote down that I wanted to be a published writer. Within a year I had several of my beadwork patterns accepted for publication. I truly believe that writing down your dreams sets in motion the steps you need to take to reach that goal, even if you don't know what they are.

"A goal without a plan is only a dream." Yes, we must write down our dreams. It is the first step toward changing them from a nebulous cloud of desires to a solid, achievable goal. Before he was famous, and while still poor as a church mouse, Jim Carrey wrote himself a check for ten million dollars and dated it for five years later. By the time the five years were up he was commanding $20 million per movie, no long a poor mouse. I love that story because it goes to show that if we convince ourselves we can do something, all that remains are the steps we must take to make it happen. Great post, Sioux!

I feel like I've experienced a lot of self-fulfilling prophecies, but I can't think of one right now... I love your WWWP group's collective sense of "it'll-happen." Between that group's positive energy and the support of your friends in the blogosphere, it WILL happen.